e-commerce stands for electronic commerce and it is buying and selling products or services on the internet and transferring money for the purchase of products or services.
A product or a service online, e-commerce has expanded exponentially in recent years and will continue to do so in the future for small and medium, or even large-sized businesses.
It’s a business all the way through to large corporations and even independent freelancers who have benefited from e-commerce for their products and services and are now so easy to discover and purchase.
At any hour of any day from almost anywhere globally, such business remains active.
E-commerce is the fastest-growing retail market, so why wouldn’t you want to be a part of that? There are a lot of benefits to hopping on e-commerce.
Being on electronic technology, you have a global market that multiplies your target audience exponentially, and you’ll also choose who your customers are and define how to target them with your store being online. You’re essentially open 24/7 365 days a year there’s no need to flip that sign-on.
Your front door that states open on one side and closed on the other, customers can purchase your goods all day any day.
You also have the ability to work from anywhere in the world provided that you have an internet connection, you’re also going to require a lower investment.
Costs are very low as compared to a physical store, so you can open an e-commerce store provided that you have the few essentials to get started these essentials include a product or service to sell, a place to sell them a means to process payments, and a marketing strategy to attract customers.
Let’s discuss each of these a little further, so you will need a product or service to sell right off the bat. You can either make something yourself or you can source it from somewhere else
Some things you must keep in mind that to whom you want to sell your product or service that is unique.
You don’t want to sell something that every other Tom Dick and Harry is selling, what’s the point this means more competition and fewer chances of sales also try and think of a product or a service that solves someone’s problem no one likes having problems.
So if you have something that can solve enough people’s problems, you’re a winner. Finally, the cost of your goods and the selling price of your products at a low enough rate that you remain competitive to similar products on the market however you don’t want to price yourself too low that you don’t make a sufficient profit to keep operating.
On the other hand, you have to be careful with the price that is too high, otherwise, no one will purchase your products.
As you will be selling your goods, and the nature of e-commerce is selling online, so you’re not going to be looking for a brick-and-mortar location or physical storefront, you’ll need a website or an eCommerce platform to sell your products.
You can either build your own website or use a CMS content management system, a CMS provides the basic framework for your website and allows you to add and edit your products accept.
Building your own website, the factors to keep in mind are when choosing your CMS platform are pricing, scalability, flexibility, and ease of use.
Keep in mind that your website or CMS platform is acting as your physical shop, this is where people come to interact with you and purchase your goods. This is where you influence them, this is where you impact how likely they are to convert from a visitor to a sale and hopefully a repeat sale so the decision of where you will be selling your goods is one of the most important ones that you will make choices wisely.
The next thing to think about is how you’ll be transacting with customers this is a really important decision your payment provider is someone that needs to be credible and trustworthy because after all the ones are handling your income
Important points to keep in mind here are compatibility with your eCommerce platform available in the countries that your business is targeting the ability to accept payments in different currencies the fees charged reliability and reporting and usability and customer support.
some payment processes that we highly recommend are stripe and PayPal
Lastly, you’ll need a good marketing strategy to attract your customers let’s face it if you don’t attract customers to your online store you aren’t going to make sales.
It’s not like having a physical storefront where need a good amount of work if you’re going to be successful, it’s also an area that constantly needs to be revisited reviewed, and adjusted based on what’s bringing your traffic and what is not.
There are a few areas of focus, for this one social media has become a channel of digital influence and is a brilliant tool for building brand awareness it’s almost impossible.
For new brands to be successful online without some sort of social media like Facebook, Twitter Pinterest, Instagram, and other networks can be used for almost everything from specific targeting and real-time engagement to customer service and direct sales.
It’s a no-brainer to stay heavily active on these platforms and the best part of these are they’re free number two
SEO stands for search engine optimization. This refers to techniques that help your business to rank higher in search engine results pages, this makes your website more visible to people who are looking for products or services.
Google search to find what you’re looking for. Our websites are to be ranked there because of good SEO. You also need to formulate official emails. It is a highly successful tool to keep your audience engaged and to increase your business. Emails marketing is growing up pretty fast. You can take advantage of this technique.
Benefits of e-commerce
online commerce has benefits. Following are some of the important ones.
- Easier
online buying makes purchases simpler, faster, and less time-consuming, allowing for 24-hour sales, quick delivery, and easy returns. - Improvement
E-commerce makes have capacity to improve and by customer feedbacks which may be available instantly. In this way the products or services can fulfill customer satisfaction. - Global access
Customers from all around can reach to your site. There is no need to travel to purchase products. So corporations are no longer restricted by geography or physical barriers. - Less costly
As there is no need of land, construct building or shops ,no bricks or concrete needed, so internet business can be started with much less costs.